This invention pertains to flex holders for retaining a flexible sign face to a sign frame and more particularly, it pertains to a reversible single-piece flex holder for installation one way or the other on the margin of a flexible sign face.
The flexible face sign of interest herein has its face material stretched across an opening in a sign frame and is anchored to the periphery of the sign""s opening. Holding devices are attached at intervals along the flexible sign face and are generally made to engage into a slot along the sign frame to retain the face material to the sign casing. The holding devices and the slot are covered with a cap or molding that enhances the general appearance of the sign. These holding devices are referred to in the industry as flex holders.
Examples of flex holders of the prior art are disclosed in several U.S. patents granted to Normand Verret, the inventor of the present invention. These US patents are:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,459 issued on Oct. 26, 1993;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,166 issued on Sep. 23, 1997;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,034 issued on Aug. 11, 1998;
U.S. Pat. No. 6,061,941 issued on May. 16, 2000;
U.S. Pat. No. 6,070,351 issued on Jun. 6, 2000; and
U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,376 issued on Jun. 13, 2000.
Other flex holders of the prior art are disclosed in the following US patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,928 issued on Sep. 11, 1990 to James A. Tanner;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,216 issued on Jul. 23, 1991 to James Gandy et al.;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,398,388 issued on Mar. 21, 1995 to Kelly R. Coleman; and
U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,546 issued on Nov. 21, 1995 to Judson L. Kovalak, Jr.
The flex holder described in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,061,941 in particular, is made of aluminum and has a longitudinal tongue and groove arrangement which is pressed over the sign face to clamp and to grip the sign face material between the tongue and the groove. Several flex holders are installed along the edge of the flexible sign face, and are inserted into a serrated slot along the sign casing for adjustably stretching the face material over the sign""s opening and for retaining the face material in a taut condition.
During the installation of the flexible sign face, each flex holder is clamped in a specific orientation to the edge of the flexible sign face and is rolled over the flexible sign face material in a determined direction. It is then inserted in the rolled up mode into the serrated slot of the sign frame. This rotation is effected to wrap the flexible sign face material around the flex holder half a turn such that a tension in the flexible sign face causes the flex holder to rotate back inside the slot and to latch into the serrations inside the slot.
It will be appreciated that the orientation of the flex holder is different whether it is installed on a top margin or on a bottom margin, or on a right side margin or on a left side margin. The rotation of the flex holder on the margin of the flexible sign face is also different on all sides of the sign frame.
For a newly hired worker or a newly appointed contractor, the proper orientation of the flex holder can be ambiguous. These flex holders are normally installed in the field on a partly deployed flexible sign face, while standing in ladders or in boom-mounted buckets where the work posture is not always ideal. Consequently, some of the flex holders are often installed the wrong way and must be removed and replaced before a sign can be commissioned. The re-opening of a flex holder tends to break its hinge and destroy it. These installation errors add substantial amounts to the labor and material costs of a sign.
Although one flex holder of the prior art has been selected as an example herein above, it is believed that none of the flex holders of the prior art can be used interchangeably in one orientation or the other along the edge of a flexible sign face. It is also believed that the prior art is short of suggestion with regard to making a flex holder reversible. As such, it is believed that there continues to be a need in the sign industry for a reversible flex holder which can be installed one way or the other without limitation as to which side thereof is adjacent the front surface of a flexible sign face.
In the present invention, however, there is provided a single-piece flex holder which has symmetrical pivot lips and symmetrical torque bulges on both sides thereof such that is can be mounted interchangeably one way or the other on the edge of a flexible sign face.
In a broad aspect of the present invention, there is provided, a flex holder for retaining a flexible sign face to a sign frame, comprising a single-piece elongated body having a latch block and a latch blade hinged to the latch block for clamping the margin of a flexible sign face. A pair of pivot lips are provided on the outside of the flex holder for engagement into a slot in a sign frame. These pivot lips are symmetrical to each other relative to a clamping axis defined by the latch block and the latch blade.
The flex holder according to the present invention is advantageous for being interchangeably mountable, relative to the clamping axis, to a margin of a flexible sign face.
In accordance with another feature of the present invention, there is provided a pair of torque bulges on the elongated body, for co-operating with the margin of a flexible sign face to apply a torque on the flex holder to promote the engagement of the pivot lip into a sign frame. The torque bulges are also symmetrical to each other relative to the clamping axis
In accordance with yet another feature of the present invention, each of the latch block and the latch blade has a pair of latch teeth thereon. Each pair engages with the other to clamp the flex holder to the edge of the flexible sign face. The teeth in each pair are spaced apart along and perpendicularly from the clamping axis. The engagement of these two pairs of latch teeth has been found to be particularly efficient in securely retaining the flex holder to the edge of a flexible sign face longitudinally and transversely relative to this edge.
In yet another feature of the present invention, there is provided a stopper lip extending from the latch block and along the latch blade, and a stopper bulge on the latch blade. The lip and the bulge are positioned to interfere with each other when the latch blade is opened to a certain extent. The stopper lip and the stopper bulge prevent over-stressing the hinge during the reopening of the flex holder such that a maximum number of reuses of the flex holder is possible.
In a further feature of the present invention there is provided a flex holder having a plurality of engagement lips between one of the pivot lips and one of the torque bulges. The flex holder is thereby mountable in a plurality of different types of sign frames.
Other advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description.